Astounding Arrogance Anita Perry (as in the Governor's wife) applied for and received a hardship driver's license for their 15 year old daughter, Sydney.
From the Austin American-Statesman article: On the application, Anita Perry checked the box for "an unusual economic hardship on the family of the minor," and included a statement reading , "Daughter needs transportation to/from school. Bus transportation unavailable. Parents are government employees and travel frequently. Daughter to have summer employment away from home that requires transportation."
Governor Perry's annual salary is $115,345. Oh, and he has DPS officers to provide him (and presumably his family) transportation as needed (which seems perfectly justified for the Governor of Texas; claiming "economic hardship on the family" if your 15 year-old daughter isn't allowed to drive doesn't).
You Gotta Love a Headline That Includes "Bulging Underwear" OK, I do anyway. Admittedly, underwear is especially sensual to me, especially worn by the sort of guys that Calvin Klein uses as models, but this made me chuckle. According to press in London, a 6-story tall CK undies billboard had to be removed as it was causing traffic jams and accidents. The story doesn't say why things will be any better after it went back up, but maybe they are getting used to the boy, Victoria, Australia's own Travis Fimmel. The 60-foot billboard is also in NY's Times Square, in LA and other cities. But not Austin.
Today, I will attend my commencement ceremony at the University of Texas. I completed a BA in Economics (minor in Mathematics). It's been 10 years since I graduated from high school and moved to Austin. And, now...I'm moving to LA. So, why the fuck am I smiling like a fool who knows the punch line before the joke's finished? 'Cause I do. No real shift in thought, music, politics, etc. has occurred in the past 10 years. It's been rather stagnant 'round here, huh? Since that's a pretty darn big brush stroke, let me start with music.
Question: What was the number 1 album 10 years ago today?
Answer: "Totally Krossed Out" by Kris Kross.
Question: What was the number 1 album last week?
Answer: "Hood Rich" by Big Tymers.
Ok, we all know that commercial hip-hop is here to stay and has pretty much replaced R&B on the charts and on radio. But, what about this Nu-Metal stuff? The Limp Biskit's, Linkin Park's and Incubus's? Well, I see an amazing parallel between those bands and the Queensryche's, Mr. Big's and Guns N Roses of 10 years ago. Both groups took MTV and radio by storm. The entire country was wearing half-shirts and packing butane lighters for the ballads. "Arena Rock is here to stay, man!" Ah, but it ended rather quickly, didn't it? Nirvana arrived and put the nail in Poison's coffin. The next thing we know, Sonic Youth has a major label contract. ("WTF?!?") and Mudhoney is showing up on movie soundtracks. Bands stop wearing makeup and teasing their hair.
And now it's back. The hosts of MTV's "All Things Rock" wear makeup. "It brings out my eyes." Bands like Lit are more concerned with their hair than their music. Fuck. I thought we already won this battle. I thought alternative music (previously called College Radio music) was going to change the music industry and give me more choice in the bands I can see and listen to. I was convinced that Matt Pinfield's stint at MTV was going to bring about some serious change.
So, where's my Nirvana? Is it Jimmy Eat World? They have the street credibility and a damn good self-produced album. Is it going to be electronica? folk? or will it be a garage band from the midwest like Lawrence Arms? Maybe something from overseas like The Hives or Millencolin?
There is one parallel that might bring this change about sooner than expected: fear. Remember what else was happening around 10 years ago? That's right: the Persian Gulf War. We thought Saddam was going to dump chemical/biological weapons all over the Middle East. Could he attack the U.S. with them? That's exactly that type of fear and uncertainty we have now, except that fear and uncertainty is much more intense now. Being afraid of dying will certainly quell your hankerin' for Pepsi and Britney Spears.
At the very least, I know I'm going to figure it out this summer. Something big is going to happen in music this year. Not only does history seem to lead to that conclusion, but my gut tells me so. And I'll listen to that first before Kurt Loder.
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I'll check back in after I get settled in LA. Wish me luck!
In answer to Baze's question ...
I'm not sure if this is really me, but I can confess to downloading jpegs off of BBSs in the mid-90s and having to concatenate them before being able to view them. God. It took HOURS for one little ounce of lascivious titillation! That was back in the day of 2400 baud rates and slower. Egad! Does anyone remember what a GeoPort was? How about eWorld? I was a charter member. ;)
What Kind of Geek Are you? I took the test, and the results are in: In the Grand Scheme of Geekdom,
I guess it's sort of true--for me anyway, a new and happy Mac user since August 2001. Though I never wear white after September, have a Titanium PowerBook not some Sony Vaio thingy and would not be caught dead in those Marla Thomas frames.
Here's Some News: The News--Isn't While I am not a regular New Republic reader, this fine piece caught my eye when it was noted in one of my favorite sites Arts & Letters Daily. It is a rare visit to that page that does not inspire many many clicks to articles I have missed and books I had not heard of.
bellyfuzz Update Just wanted to write a quick note to let you know about a couple of new things going on with bellyfuzz.
Bloglet offers a cool, free service that sends out a single, nightly e-mail to subscribers telling them about new posts to bellyfuzz. To sign up, enter your e-mail adress under the "update alerts" area at the bottom of bellyfuzz's right-side navigation.
Also, I signed up with Site Meter to give us all an easy way to check in on how we're doing on traffic.
Anyhoo, let me know if you have any ideas for additions or improvements to the site. It keeps getting better!
